Women’s March Wisconsin Jan 21, 2017
The unveiling of the Ministry of Truth
By Anna Daniels
There are 1,457 days left in the Trump presidency, assuming that he doesn’t get bored and quit, is impeached or that the skies rain glass upon us all.
Trump’s inaugural address “(Liberal) Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” made it clear that he is only interested in his adoring base–the 46% of the voting public who narrowly installed him in the White House. The strategy among his handlers is clearly to let Trump be Trump while they roll up their sleeves and dismantle our democratic institutions.
The massive Women’s March in Washington on the first day of the Trump presidency was successful on many levels, not the least of which is that it got under Trump’s thin skin–bigly. The half million or so people who showed up were not Trump’s adoring base.
Welcome to the world of ‘alternative facts’
Hunter Thompson Quote; Marko Kudjerski, flickr, cc
When Sean Spicer, Trump Press Secretary, gave a press briefing on Saturday evening after the Women’s March, he stopped short of pounding the podium while he delivered what is easy to imagine as a spittle inflected speech “Ours is bigger!”
Trump’s obsession with the size of his crowds and his poll numbers (when he is winning) is no secret. He uses every public appearance to continue to remind his audience that he pulled off a huge win when everyone (the press) said it was impossible.
Trump realizes that the best defense is a strong offense. Spicer went after the press for under-reporting the size of Trump’s inaugural attendance while inflating that of the Women’s March. The reality of course, is that attendance at the Women’s March eclipsed that at the Trump inauguration.
Spicer threw down the gauntlet, promising that this presidency would vigorously take on the press and call out their putative lies. Trump has already provided the set up for this by describing the mainstream media as the opposition party. This plays well to the base and the Trump administration is counting on this going forward.
It is also extremely dangerous– Kellyanne Conway is already chirping that Spicer presented alternative facts. How many in the mainstream media will be willing to say that “alternative facts” are what reasonable, sane people call “lies”?
There should be no doubt that our new Ministry of Truth will go after individual reporters, specific media outlets and the press in general. The first shot out of the gate was small lies that are easily refuted. Will the press refute them? Will the press ultimately find the courage to stop attending Spicer’s press briefings?
The scrubbing of data
Orwell 1984; Patrick Hoesly, flickr
While the public debate continues over whose d@ck crowd is bigger, behind the scenes the scrubbing of data and websites is occurring. The federal government provides indispensable data. This includes budget and economic information to Congress (Congressional Budget Office) as well information to the public at whitehouse.gov . Trump has called the Department of Labor’s unemployment statistics a hoax.
So while Spicer and Conway push alternative facts to the public, the actual facts that the public, the media and Congress rely upon are being disappeared.
It is abundantly clear that it falls to the public, to the citizens, as we saw in yesterday’s Women’s March and to the press, which is still struggling to find its spine, to provide a narrative that is not only fact based but broadly accessible.
There are 1, 457 days left in the Trump presidency. Trump already has a legitimacy crisis. We are getting clear signs of what he intends to do.
What are we prepared to do?
Anna Daniels
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What should we do? Stay tuned. Read. Drag your body to demos. Call your House Rep. Bake cookies and throw parties that raise funds for ads that you and friends photoshop. Compare Trump mugshots to those of Mussolini. Save money and give it to the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, The Nation, whomever Bernie is backing, the NAACP. Have a conscience. Smile and hold open the door for the person behind you….
the question is not WHO to believe, Trump? the press? … the citizens?
it is to WHAT SOLUTIONS to believe to our eroding middle-class problems…..
to solution massive job losses,
to solution massive industrial closings
and to solution massive unrestricted imports….
it is not WHO but WHAT IN ORDER TO SURVIVE
What does Capitalessinm say we should do, Doctor? Share your thoughts.
I have a “family” member who is a con. This is what I’ve learned to do. First I was amazed at her brilliance, saw her sucess, got ripped off. Second. RUN LIKE HELL. Keep away from me. She has ripped off many people with many fraud lawsuits and BK. My advice RUN and STAY AWAY FROM cons. IE: TRUMP. IMO.
I’m afraid that “…the skies will rain glass upon us all” as Anna Daniel suggests. “Alternative Facts” may well become the facts of the populace that celebrates the new regime.
May voter apathy, ignorance, and the adoration of a pathologically afflicted narcissist rule. Good luck America, you’ll find the next 1,457 days to be a ride like you have never seen before.
This goes for both parties. Us Democrats underestimated the numbers of the forgotten white labor class and overestimated their ability in assessing the serious character flaws of their candidate. The Republicans now have to live with the results of their own obstructive and selfishly divided policies. We will all suffer the consequences. Ethics, honesty and words do count. Facts are just that. Post-truth is not truth.
The marches that followed the inauguration -all over the world- were the only encouraging sign of hope. After eight years of peace, civility, economic growth and concern for the survival of the planet and humanity in general is now the past. So, we’ll now get what we as a nation have chosen. Good luck with all that.
I think we also should somehow encourage the press to grow a spine and call lies, “lies”.
He has demonstrated the requisite intent so no need to hold back.
In Fact Chuck Todd on Meet the Press confronted Kellyanne Conway when she mentioned “alternative facts.” He called alternative facts lies. The interview got quite heated.
Is it possible for the SDFP to have a little box showing us the number of days left before he’s gone.? Maybe a box just letting us know how many days before he is out of there.
Some Quotes to give historical perspective.
“The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.”
“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed”.
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”.
“The greater the lie, the greater the chance that it will be believed.”
“It is not truth that matters, but victory”.
“Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.”.
“I do not see why man should not be just as cruel as nature.”
“Humanitarianism is the expression of stupidity and cowardice.”
“Hate is more lasting than dislike.”
“Who says I am not under the special protection of God?”
“I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator”
“Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented for its own destruction.”
“The day of individual happiness has passed”.
“Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.”
“How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.”
“I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.”
“Keep a very firm grasp on reality, so you can strangle it at any time.”
If these sound like Rump, they are his views, but these quotes are from Adolf Hitler.
Assuming all these quotes originated with him, even Hitler used language better than T.Rump does. Bigly indeed.
Google it. Adolf Hitler quotes. There are many collections. So you don’t have to assume.
Fascism is just the extreme end of conservatism. Creating a new Aristocracy.
Making economic ‘class’ a division between people, a new royalty with the rest of us as the ‘commoners’.
Different rights and privileges for each class. Only some can vote or participate in ruling or have to pay taxes.
Yes “ruling”, not governing. That is the conservative dream.
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Conservatism as a political and social philosophy promotes retaining traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization.
Conservatives seek to preserve institutions like the Church, monarchy and the social hierarchy, as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others, called reactionaries, oppose modernism and seek a return to “the way things were”.
The first established use of the term in a political context originated with François-René de Chateaubriand in 1818, during the period of Bourbon restoration that sought to roll back the policies of the French Revolution.
The term, historically associated with right-wing politics, has since been used to describe a wide range of views.
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Those white male republicans think women should get back to the kitchen and stay out of politics and voting. And forget birth control or abortion or any say in matters regarding your own body, girls.
And any non-white, (or worse) a white liberal, or patriot who resist this New World Order of Steve Bannon’s nightmares, are all going to be in the new “ruler’s” crosshairs. (In the most chilling way)
Today it was revealed that Bannon has been running a private NSC within the WH with no paper trail….ordering a hit would not be beyond these people.(IMO)